injured beak question

[pnutj58]

A couple of weeks ago, Tilly injured her beak. I'm not at all sure how, but it was cracked and bleeding, and has the tip of her upper beak broken off. I didn't do anything dramatic for her, but watched to be sure she could eat and drink. The bleeding stopped pretty quickly, and her beak is healing. She can drink just fine, but eating her pellets and picking anything up -- like meal worms -- is not happening. I suspect it will be quite a while before it does happen normally again. Before subjecting her to the trauma of tube feeding, I put some pellets in a bowl and covered them with water, then just let them sit awhile. Once the pellets have soaked up all the water, I stir them up and feed them to Tilly. Of course, Hilary has to get in on it, so I make enough to be sure Tilly will get her fill. Every few days I try to give Tilly a meal worm to see if she'll eat it. She tries but can't quite handle it yet. So, she gets some egg for protein, instead. This was not a good time for a beak injury because they are molting right now, and meal worms are my chosen source of protein for them. They are the hens' choice, too, when there are no injuries.

Anyway, she is on the mend and eating fine, as long as it's soft food and she can scoop instead of peck. She is otherwise fine, although neither girl is laying much. I'm assuming that's from the molting they're doing.



I know beak tips can grow back, but, what I'm wondering is about how long it will be before that tip has grown back. Sorry, my phone camera doesn't take very good photos, but this is what I have right now. If you look closely, you can see where the tip of her beak is missing.

Thanks much for any input.

 

[sourland]

I can't provide a time line on how long it will take for her beak tip to regrow, but I will say that evidently you are doing the right things for her - she looks to be in great shape.

 

[Cluckies]

My buff orpington Cluck-Cluck broke the tip of her upper beak off 08/29/2014, it is all grown back now. Here is a photo the day she broke it, but she did not have any issue eating or picking up food with it. This was almost 1 month ago. As far as I know it did not bleed.




This was a couple weeks ago 09/14/2014 (here first egg!) she stood there about five minutes going, "what the heck just happened?" lol but as you can see, her beak is on the mend, getting longer!


I don't have a current photo from today, i'll try and remember when I get home.

 

[Cluckies]

Here she is, beak all grown back, photo taken 09/30/2014.

 

[chicmom]

Love your pictures.

 

[pnutj58]

The tip of Tilly's beak really broke off -- back about 1/8th inch so she is now undershot. I've read anywhere from two weeks to a year, for how long a beak tip takes to grow back. Looking at that picture I posted, and at her beak now, I can't say it's really grown any at all. I hope she didn't break it off too far. But, it also feels like it's been a month and it's only been a bit over a week since I posted that pic. Her beak shows none of the cracks that were there at first, so I know that that part is mending or mended. She can even handle some full hard pellets, although I still feed her moistened pellets that she can scoop up.

sourland -- She did look great in that photo, and then ... she blew out all of her feathers in a massive molt. Oh my goodness, I've never seen anything like it, this being my first full grown hen molt. She looks unbelievably bedraggled right now. ONE tail feather, a couple of flight feathers, most of the rest sticking out in every possible direction, and ... well ... yeah. I give the two girls live mealworms for their protein but she can't pick them up because they're round, her beak ends don't match up, and there's no hook to snag them with. So, I got her some avian protein powder from the feed store. The guy laughed at my description of her and her molt, and told me that in two weeks she'll be beautiful. I questioned the two weeks thing and he said it would only be about two weeks. I'm still skeptical, but at least I know she WILL get feathers. They're starting to come in on her feet already. Hilary is yet to start a full on molt, and I hope she does it soon. She's two months younger than Tilly. Age doesn't decide a molt time for adult hens, does it?

In the mean time, I will maybe stop looking at Tilly's beak .. every .. single .. day .. and maybe it will grow "faster." You know, the watched-pot-never-boils idea.

And, I'm with chicmom -- Cluckies, your pictures are very nice.

Thanks for the help, and any new help that should arise.

 

[Cluckies]

Her beak must have broke off way more than cluck-clucks (i can't really see in the photo) Hopefully it grows back soon.

 

[sunflour]

Expect about 1 mm growth per month. To little to tell unless you watch every few weeks.

 

[Cluckies]

maybe if you up her calcium a little it will grow faster?

 

[sunflour]

maybe if you up her calcium a little it will grow faster?

Beaks and nails are keratin and calcium won't make them grow faster. Protein may.